Volunteering cut short

My last and best day at the school, helped finish The Amazing Mural and got to take my class out for their 'sport' lesson which actually involved the kids sitting around me and teaching me to count in Cambodian, which I forgot within about 30 seconds of learning.

I will miss the "Hello teacher!"s and the "PICK ME PICk ME PICK ME"s and the hugs and high-fives, and the little notes and pictures snuck into my back pockets when I'm not looking.

Actually, tomorrow was supposed to be my last day at the school, but my volunteering was unexpectedly cut short when my foot swelled up to twice its Normal size and became ridiculously painful, thanks to a bite (the only bite!) that I'd got three days before. The kids' attempts at blowing on my "balloon foot" didn't really help so it was off to hospital for a second opinion! Left the Royal Rattanak hospital with about a million different kinds of pills to take, handed to me in a slightly too cheerful paper bag! A pair of volunteer medical students we met one day informed me that I really didn't need all those pills but I wasn't taking any chances - I needed to be able to walk again in two days time, ready for our tour of Phnom Penh! So I had to pass up dinner and spend the night (and the following day) in bed under the fan in my stuffy room with my foot in the air.

Phnom Penh hospital's cheerful bags

written by

lucy3119 on August 11, 2011 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

from the travel blog: Cambodia 2011

Send a Compliment

comment on this...